The former president of the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation - Stefan Botev said that he will not appeal the election of the new head Assen Zlatev.
Earlier today, a General Meeting of the headquarters was held, at which Zlatev was elected president. Botev refused to speak on the topic of his appeal, which delays the registration of the new head of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee, Vessela Lecheva.
"I am surprised on the one hand, but on the other - not so much. I am surprised because what I did has not been done in a federation for many years and there is no logic in voting for a person who cannot handle this. If he could, he should have run for president last year, when he was the biggest problem in the federation and it was on the verge of bankruptcy. What I have done for our federation is more than enough. But I am not surprised that the delegates voted like this. There was a very aggressive campaign before the elections.
People who supported me did not come at the last minute or were represented by proxies. They told me that there was a lot of pressure from the opposition against them. I do not know from whom exactly, but this is normal for us in all elections. Everyone who has been in this federation for a long time works this way. It is not bad that Carlos Nassar came out with his name and face and preferred another candidate. He made his decision and supports him, there is nothing wrong with that. I cannot appeal the choice, but the clubs, if they want, can do so.
If there were omissions during the meeting, there will be appeals. Those who do not see any omissions will not appeal and everything continues. In my opinion, everything went normally with some minor exceptions, but everything needs to be reviewed again. I don't know if Mr. Delyan Peevski will continue to help the bars. This is his personal decision. I don't want to interfere in Mr. Peevski's decisions. He needs to talk to Asen Zlatev. The current debt of the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation is about 620 thousand leva. We expect a sanction from the National Revenue Agency, which will bring it to 820 thousand.
When I was elected, the amount was about one million, but I can't say exactly how much. The sanction that will be imposed on us by the National Revenue Agency is because in 2023 the then management did not pay insurance premiums to those who worked in the federation. An audit is currently being conducted to show the real situation. I don't want to comment on my complaint about the election to the BOK. I have a lawyer. I don't want to comment on this, we gathered to talk about the bars. Are you going to force me to answer? "I said I have no comment," Botev said.